MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
143 
the rot and decay of one plant the health and 
strength of its neighbour, rul'd so on. The world, 
as a body, consists of earth, air, and water, and 
from these three elements sprung all creation {con¬ 
sequently, all animal and vegetable substance are 
certain portions of each. Air, by the inflation of 
the lungs, propels the machinery of life ; it con¬ 
sists of various gasses, some of which are a sub¬ 
stance in a state of solution, inasmuch as salt, 
lime, or other minerals, are soluble in water, and 
thereby nature continues, regenerating, absorbing 
through the sun’s heat all corruption and decom¬ 
position, which are again returned by the process 
of vegetation in the altered shape of animal and 
vegetable life. 
Decomposition is the .sustenance of vegetable 
and animal life, and as the sun absorbs moisture 
from the ocean, again to be returned in fain, so 
also is a similar process carried on in absorbing all 
corruption and decomposition in charging the air 
with those essential gasses, which are again returned 
through the means of vegetation, proving that the 
death of one substance is the health of another, 
and so on. 
All soils are not equally productive, any more 
than all herbs arc equally nutritious; some will 
scarcely support animal life, while others are rank 
poison. So also are the different earths, some con¬ 
tain little, if any, vegetable sustenance, and others 
are entirely unproductive and barren. As a general 
rule, all soils are vegetative only in proportion as 
they contain decomposed vegetable or other matter, 
all alluvial soils are richest in this substance, and 
not only is it absorbed by repeated cropping, but 
also by repeated turning of the sod. By repeated 
turning and exposure manure of any kind will lose 
considerably in quality and quantity, simply from 
the. fact that it i3 composed of decomposed vege¬ 
table and animal matter, and is rich in those essen¬ 
tial gasses which are the sustenance of vegetation; 
and I maintain that the absorption of those gasses 
takes place on the fresh-turned soil to a much 
greater extent than we are aware of. 
IVhen we deviate from nature, we are sure to 
err, and in this case we err most grossly. Nature, 
to guard against such effects, has protected her soil 
by its own productiveness, and, as its season of life 
departs, it yields back to the soil, at |east that 
which it gave, and the air claims back its own pro¬ 
portion. Do we return to the soil that which it 
gave ? no! we rob it of all, and much more than is 
necessary, by turning the sod. 
Land once brought into cultivation, the sod 
should never after he turned, for the loss caused by 
absorption is very great, and no corresponding 
benefit obtained. The object of ploughing is to 
soften the ground and smother weeds, but the weeds 
are not destroyed, they are merely kept in check, 
and the object in view could he more beneficially 
accomplished, by using a boardless or wedge-shaped 
plough, and harrowing the ground after. 
Wheat-sowing, —Moisture is the agent by 
which atmospheric action contributes to vegetation; 
without moisture vegetation could not exist, and in 
a climate like ours, where absorption is so powerful, 
it is clearly illustrated, and hence that most inju¬ 
rious impression — that all depends upon the sea¬ 
sons. 
Experience has taught us that good seasons will 
bring good crops; while at the same time, we seem 
entirely forgetful, that a more careful system of 
cultivation would have a most beneficial effect. | 
Unhealthy plants are the foundation of unhealthy 
crops; and, consequently, it should be our study to 
produce healthy plants, and to guard /igainst that 
powerful absorption, by protecting the seed with 
proper covering, and giving it the benefit of any 
moisture which the ground may contain. 
The present system of seed sowing in New 
England, and, I believe generally throughout the 
Colony, is of two kinds—ploughing in, and liar¬ 
rowing in ; ploughing in, is by scattering the seed 
on the stubble, and ploughing it in with horses or 
bullocks. Harrowing in, is by ploughing the 
ground first, then scattering the seed, and harrow¬ 
ing the ground after. Taking, for instance, a bad 
season, and ploughing in for example ; the seed is 
often sown as it comes from the sheaf, and when the 
sod is turned, it is generally buried to a depth of 
six inches, in evaporated surface dust, where it often 
remains for weeks, or until it saps from the sur¬ 
rounding soil sufficient moisture to. create vege¬ 
tation. 
It will be borne in mind that the substance of 
the seed itself is the first, and only nourishment, 
the plant receives, which, is, in all cases, sufficient 
to place it in that forward stage of maturity capable 
of providing for itself, namely, by providing it with 
roots; and not till then does the plant derive nour¬ 
ishment from the surrounding soil, In many cases, 
from its great depth, regeneration takes place be¬ 
fore the plant reaches that atmosphere which is 
most essential to its being; or, in other words, the 
seed becomes entirely exhausted in giving being to 
the plant without deriving any assistance from 
atmospheric action, and hence the result—weak, 
unhealthy plants. 
This is a subject worthy of attention, particularly 
in this climate; and in this case nature can be 
materially assisted bv art. There are many causes 
of unhealthy plants, but as moisture is the life of 
vegetation, a want of that moisture is the principal; 
to supply this want should he our greatest care, 
and this, in a dry season, can be materially accom¬ 
plished by saturating tile seed with liquid manure 
previous to committing it to the soil; by this 
means the seed would absorb sufficient nutriment, 
as well as moisture, to create instantaneous vegeta¬ 
tion, and, independent of the season, the plant, ere 
the seed becomes exhausted, would derive additional 
strength and nourishment from atmospheric action. 
On the subject of harrowing-in wheat, in a cli¬ 
mate like this, where two days’ sun is sufficient to 
sap any little moisture the ground may contain, it 
will he' sufficient to state, that as moisture is essen¬ 
tial to vegetation, the health of such plants must 
entirely depend upon the season, one-eighth of the 
seed is'destroyed by birds ; and instances have oc¬ 
curred where, under this system, the seed remained 
dormant during the whole season. When the soil 
is not properly prepared or manured, and the seed 
scarcely covered, it is not at all astonishing that 
the seasons should possess powerful influence over 
the crops; it is a well-established fact all over the 
world, that moist seasons are favourable to vegeta¬ 
tion, and that indifferent seasons are the terf of 
agriculture. The preparation of the soil, and the 
planting of seed, requires much more care in this 
colony than in a more moist or cold climate; sim¬ 
ply from the fact, that absorption takes place 
quicker, and to a mnch greater extent, and, conse¬ 
quently, when the seed is scarcely covered,, it is 
suddenly deprived of that moisture most essential 
to its being ; from this will he seen the necessity of 
